Aeyra-drow
Aeyra-drow are a subrace of Dark Elves. Physical Description *'Average height:' 170-190 cm for both males and females. *'Average weight:' 60-79 kg for males, 57-73 for females. *'Hair colour:' White or very light gray. *'Eye colour:' Gray, white or black. *'Skin colour:' Pale, bordering on white. *'Average lifespan:' Up to 300 years, reach physical maturity at 20-30 years. Facial features are smoother than humans', but a bit tougher than other elves, sometimes even sharp, with Aeyra-drow having their features the most pronounced. They have prominent cheekbones, often aquiline nose, thin lips, faint brow ridges and so on. They are very lean, almost sickly looking sometimes, however this perception is usually deceptive in regards to their strength. Like other elves, they can not grow facial hair. Strangely enough, Aeyra-drow give birth to females more often than males. There is no clear number because of the general rarity of the Aeyra-drow and the hard-to-access, both physically and socially, nature of their settlements, but it is estimated that the percentage is anywhere from 65% to 85%. It is not known what causes this, since other than that there appears to be nothing extremely unusual about Aeyra-drow genders. Distribution Evenly distributed among the Empire of Eberia and other territories. Culture Settlements Tend to settle in the mountains, especially in underground caverns, often in places abandoned by their former inhabitants, be it abandoned because of the Aeyra-drow themselves or for any other reason. If none such settlements are available, they build their own, but usually these do not stand for long. Languages Simplan, Elven. Diet Aeyra-drow diet reflects their livelihood. Since it's nigh impossible to have normal farms on or in the mountains, they rarely have any grains, fruits or vegetables. They do have dishes made of meat, usually coming from sheep, goats and wild game, or the underdwelling creatures. A lot of underground settlements have special farms with mushrooms and rare plants that can grow with little to no sunlight, almost always grown by Aos Si that are invited to live there for this specific reason, or, rarely, by a native that has the powers to do this. With no vineyards and no way to grow malt, the beverages are either based on goat-milk, or water, or are strong alcoholic beverages brewed from the special mushrooms called "nisse'lli", roughly translated as "bitter mushroom", named so because of its natural taste. The existence of the latter is an indicator of a bigger settlement, since it usually requires not just a magic-user than can help with the growth of nisse'lli, but also a rather serious amount of work and equipment to produce, even in small quantities. Since using fire can be a problem in caves mostly isolated from the surface by their nature, the settlements that exist underground either have little or no processed food at all, or it is processed in ways other than boiling, frying etc., such as preserving it with salts. Some underground settlements with access to hot springs prepare food in their hot waters or using their heat, others can sometimes use magically enchanted artifacts to help with this issue. The villages on the outside commonly use fire, though. Industry, art and clothing Despite their rather invasive way of finding a place to live, Aeyra-drow actually do possess some form of industry, not just living on what they can find, especially those living underground. They make various products out of metal, jewelry out of gems, clothing and such out of leather and even armor out of chitin and bone, something unique to their culture. A lot of them are also stonecutters, masons and sculptors, making some of the most elaborate pieces out of various minerals, rivaling those of dwarves even. Others become shepherds and animal tamers, or hunters. Aeyra-drow make the best hunters of underground-dwelling creatures, which is why they are often hired as guides, or asked to clear some sort of dangerous infestation, for a price, of course. The unique specimens, their bodyparts, ingredients made from them, rare plants and mushrooms are also bought from them, sometimes at great costs, but they make very good trade partners otherwise. Some Aeyra-drow still practice slavery, usually taking slaves of the previous inhabitants of the settlements they capture. As reprehensible as this is, of course, there are always clients even for this kind of business. Sadly, the communities that do trade in slaves are usually located on places hard to reach for any serious force, are hidden from those not possessing the knowledge of the exact location and are well-guarded by both the drow themselves, as well as other creatures they cunningly use as unwitting fighting force. Aeyra-drow wear clothing made out of darkened leather, like other drow, but they also utilize unique fibers from underground plants and mushrooms, as well as hides of various creatures living there, be it furs or scales. Even chitin and bone is used, though usually for armor or decorative elements. Those who occupy positions of power or wealth wear jewelry, especially rings, bracelets and other kinds that don't make noise when moving around with them. Interestingly, Aeyra-drow also use the tradition of Aos Si to incorporate different glowing living things as part of their attire, although it is obviously used only for special occasions. The castes of Aeyra-drow can even be differentiated by the number and color of these glowing decorations, which will be described in the next section. Gender roles, marriage, birth, death and community Like most other elves, Aeyra-drow are very neutral on the gender roles. Males and females have very little difference in their physical abilities and while females are a bit less muscular, this difference is less pronounced than in humans. In fact, this subrace of drow is even more gender-neutral than others. Males and females both hunt, mine, craft, fight, explore, build, take care of children, cook, etc. The reason for this is speculated to be the strangely high percentage of female drow, as described above. Despite that, Aeyra-drow's marriage is almost traditional. Two drow get married to raise children. This is called "lenteen", just as among other elves. The drow don't necessarily have to be of different genders, or even have an intimate relationship at all. Since there is more females than males in most Aeyra-drow communities, it is common for the newlyweds to both be females. This is because the purpose of lenteen is raising children, not giving birth to them. In fact, the children are often adopted at birth by this couple, but, of course, they can be their own children just as well. In case of adopted children, they, or, rather, their mothers are chosen before giving birth, while still pregnant. This is supposed to make this "fair". In case of twins and such, however, only one of them, the one that was born first, is adopted, the other one or ones are raised by the entire communities and are called "nayenne", which means "without birth" or "unborn". They are not considered to be of lower class or abnormal, but they are believed to be more likely to bring either fame or misfortune to their names. The partner for lenteen is not chosen for his or her attractiveness, but rather for their skills and, most importantly, character. Traditionally, the ceremony is not very large and is utilitarian in nature: all the guests bring gifts that would help with the newlyweds' life together, something of no practical value is rare among them and could be considered an insult, since the implication is considered to be that the marriage will produce nothing of use, just as the gift. The even of childbirth is celebrated by the parents and their friends and relatives, whether the parents were bonded by lenteen or not, since every new drow is considered a gift. The celebration can include only people close to the parents, or it can be celebrated by the entire community. This usually depends on the rank of the parents and their standing in the society. Regardless, the first ceremony performed on the newborn, usually not later than a day after birth, is a ritual scarring in the image of the family symbol. Since it can be painful and even dangerous, a mage or an alchemist almost always provides pain relief and healing, except in a very few societies that believe it to be a sign of weakness, which makes it supposedly safe and painless. Only nayennes, the unborn, do not receive this scar. The death is considered an unavoidable, if still tragic, thing, so the dead are rarely much mourned. The ceremony can be hard for Aeyra-drow living underground, since, traditionally, it is required to get their dead under the stars and burn them, both of which can be hard to do in the caverns. Unlike most other cultures, the dead are burned without any of their possessions, even clothing, at most with a sheet to cover them if the wounds, decay or something else is too unpleasant for the eyes of others. Since migrating to a new settlement for the entire community can be downright impossible if it's big enough, and even for small ones it can be very hard, considering that children wouldn't be let behind, this usually not how it happens. Instead, a small part, mostly able men and women, leave the community when it grows too large for the settlement it occupies, and go searching for a new home. This travels can be very long, so long, in fact, that some Aeyra-drow never settle down, leading the life of nomads, going from place to place, getting the necessary resources in various ways, including ways of dubious legality. These small clans too split once they become too large, or perish if they become too small. As was mentioned before, the drow in the community can be distinguished by the various glowing decorations made from mushrooms, plants, small creatures and alchemical concoctions they have on their clothing. Generally speaking, the more of them a drow has, the higher he or she is in the hierarchy, but the colors are also important. For instance, a drow with blue-colored glowing decorations is a commoner, and no matter how many blue decorations he or she has, they are always below the rank of those possessing the red ones, which means the allegiance to the warrior or hunter class, or green ones -- the farmers, mages and alchemists (usually, all three are the same profession due to the difficulties of growing food in the caverns). The leader has the yellow or white-colored glowing decorations. While the commoners are regarded to be of lower class, this means only that they are considered to be of "lower priority" when choosing a mate for lenteen, not that they are inherently worse than hunters or farmers. In fact, a commoner can become either one of these, and everyone can potentially become the leader, so the difference between is more of a matter of convenience than anything else. More than likely it was more severe in the past, but now only this remnant reminds of it. Traditional laws As other dark elves, Aeyra-drow are somewhat disrespectful of most laws, but less so than other drow, with notable exceptions being slavery, which, even when not practiced by the community is never expressly prohibited, and various ways of obtaining new places to call home. This seemingly unresolvable paradox is considered a normal way of thinking for Aeyra-drow. Nevertheless, most established communities are safe for others to visit, or, at least, would be if Aeyra-drow didn't bar any aliens from their settlements. All trade is occurring outside, and supposedly there is no other reason for others to come into their homes. The exceptions could be made, of course, but as a general rule, even the leader of the settlement would rather come out of it to speak to whoever came to him, than let them in. Speaking of leaders, every settlement is ruled by one, most commonly called "arendeel", meaning "the way up", apparently from the times when they were chosen from the guides, though sometimes the title mimics one from human hierarchy, such as "baron". Usually, an arendeel is a drow in their second century. He or she is responsible for most of the important decisions, but they can choose as many advisors as they need. Too often this results in nepotism and having everyone related to the leader and all their close friends being called "advisors" and exempt from having to work otherwise, however, this practice is tolerated, since, supposedly, it means that it's harder to put pressure on the arendeel. Arendeel is also supposed to personally lead the fighters into combat if it concerns the entire settlement, which is why it's important for them to stay in good physical shape. Arendeels are chosen in a two-fold challenge, one being the challenge by combat, in which the competitors fight in whichever way they can, until one surrenders (or is killed, though this is rare, since surrendering in this case is considered to be a smart choice if there is a risk of death), and the challenge by people, in which the competitors must sway the crowd to their side, determined by the people in the crowd holding up glowing mushroom parts of different colors (typically red and blue or something else easily distinguishable). Usually, there is only two competitors. Any member of the community can challenge the current arendeel, but this challenge can occur only twice per year, once between each Solstice. It is considered that this part of the tradition comes from the time when Aeyra-drow still lived exclusively on the surface. Traditional beliefs To be described later. Realtionships with other cultures Aeyra-drow communities are very isolationist, but they do trade with other races, having no preferences in this regard, as long as the profit is good. The only exception goes for people with the abilities to help the growth of various plants and mushrooms underground, usually someone of the Aos Si, but not necessarily. Aeyra-drow who have left their communities can be somewhat untrusting of others, but they do not discriminate in this mistrust and can work for or with the members of other races. Reasons for adventuring There are quite a few reasons Aeyra-drow, while being rather isolationist as a community, might leave their settlements and go adventuring with others. They can serve as guides, professional monster hunters and gatherers of rare and hard to get minerals and underground creatures. Those that live in the nomadic clans are free to leave at any time, and they can easily continue the travels with a new group. Finally, there are always those that are trying to find a new home for the group of their people who left the community due to overpopulation. Some Aeyra-drow also just become mercenaries, bounty hunters and heroes-for-hire, since they have no issue working for others, as long as they are well-compensated. It's rare, but not impossible, to find a member of this subrace just doing this for "fun" and "for the sake of sport" though, but those are usually the ones that already have enough money to not worry about food or place to live in. Lastly, the nayenne, the Aeyra-drow raised by the community as a whole, often venture to the surface and live on their own, having no personal connections to anyone in their settlements. Stereotypical traits Like other drow, Aeyra-drow are often feared and misunderstood, even by other elves, and this reputation is not entirely unfounded. However, as is usually the case with stereotypes, they are not entirely and universally correct either. The amount of truly dangerous individuals amongst them is more than likely not different from any other race, but their general outlook on life stemming from their culture makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and it is not helped by their common demeanor. Despite the intimidating appearance and the name "dark" elves, there are those who follow the path of Light. Culture of the dark elves is based on the idea of complete moral and physical freedom, which sometimes leads to conflicts with other civilizations. Furthermore, they obviously do not like to comply with the laws and rules of others. Like other elves, dark elves prefer to grow long hair, and Ayera-drow are not the exception. However, they commonly collect them into ponytails, cornrows, braids and such, so the hair doesn't get in the way. Drow are supposedly excellent fighters, even if they do not have the power of orcs or agility of halflings: their fast movements look as if blurred, and their extremely accurate strikes are deadly.